October 30, 2023 • 32 mins
The number of trucks on WA roads is set to double within the decade and triple by 2050. In fact we'd all come to a stop if it wasn’t for the work of our amazing truck drivers carting everything from milk to machinery across our vast state.
So it’s really important as drivers that we know how to share our roads safely with trucks.
Rob Sharpe of Transafe and InsTRUCKta! has traversed more than 1.4 million kms as a truckie and he’s had a birds eye view of more than his fair share of close calls and crazy risk taking, by cars trying to squeeze their way ahead of a truck.
So it’s no wonder that he is a huge advocate for road safety.
Transafe WA is a not for profit organisation and Instrucka is its big purple semi-trailer decked out with virtual reality simulations and engaging tools to teach young and old how to interact safely with trucks.
Warm thanks to:
Sponsor: Females Over Forty-five Fitness in Victoria Park
Sound Engineering: Damon Sutton
Music: William A Spence
... and all our generous and inspiring guests around the warm table this season!
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My Warm Table, translated into Italian is Tavola Calda. These were the words my Papa used to describe a table of good friends, good food and good conversation. I always aim to create a tavola calda in my life and I hope this podcast encourages you to do so too!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sonia Nolan (00:00):
Welcome to My Warm Table. I'm Sonia Nolan and
(00:02):
season two of this podcast aboutpassion and purpose is brought
to you by Females Over 45Fitness or FOFF, in Victoria
Park.
Introductory Voice Over of P (00:14):
My name is Kate Chaney. My name is
Bonnie Davies. My name isMadeleine King. My name is
Valerio Fantinelli. My name isLyn Beazley. My name is
Alexandra Helen Flanagan Hi, myname is Sharon Todd. My name is
Lucy Cooke and I'm the CEO ofSpaceDraft. I'm the first
Aboriginal female funeraldirector. CEO and founder of
Motion by the Ocean. I'm apsychologist and a professor in
psychology at Curtin University.
CEO and founder of LionheartCamp for Kids. Around My Warm
Table. Or listening on SoniaNolan's My Warm Table. Just
sharing a yarn with her.
Sonia Nolan (00:36):
Western Australia would come to a stop if it
wasn't for the work of ouramazing truck drivers cutting
everything from milk tomachinery across our vast state.
I've always had a very deeprespect for truckies when I see
them on the road, their imposingloads and big rigs commanding
the lane, and we're gonna seemore and more trucks on our
roads. In fact, projections tipthat the numbers are going to
(00:59):
double in the next nine yearsand treble by 2050. So it's
really important as drivers thatwe know how to share our roads
safely with trucks. And that'swhere today's Warm Table guest
Rob Sharpee comes in. Rob hastraversed more than 1.4 million
kilometres as a truckie and he'shad a bird's eye view of more
(01:19):
than his fair share of closecalls and crazy risk taking by
big and small cars andmotorbikes, literally trying to
squeeze their way ahead of atruck. So it's no wonder that
he's a huge advocate for RoadSafety and it's become his
passion and purpose. Rob hasalso got a business development
and management background. So hewas the ideal choice to head up
(01:42):
Transafe WA and its innovativeproject InsTRUCKta! Transafe WA
is a non for profit organisationand InsTRUCKta! is its big
purple semitrailer decked outwith virtual reality simulations
and engaging tools to teachyoung and old how to interact
safely with trucks. You'llusually find Rob at a community
(02:03):
fair or an industry event or ata school somewhere in WA with
his big purple instructorvehicle. But today, though, I'm
so pleased that Rob is joiningme around the Warm Table to tell
us more about how we can shareour roads safely. Welcome, Rob.
Rob Sharpe (02:19):
Thank you. I'm very glad to be here at the Warm
Table.
Sonia Nolan (02:22):
It's so good to reconnect, Rob. Really good to
reconnect because I've heard theexcitement of InsTRUCKta! as
it's been building and you'vebeen waiting for it to arrive.
And and now it's absolutelyfully fledged now in the
universe of WA teaching roadsafety.
Rob Sharpe (02:38):
Yes, thank you. It's really good to have it out there
on the road. We've- we launchedin January this year. And it's
already been to an excess of 20events around the WA, Metro and
regional areas.
Sonia Nolan (02:50):
Yeah, you've been busy, haven't you?
Rob Sharpe (02:51):
Certainly have.
Thankfully, we've now got adriver full time for that
vehicle. So InsTRUCKta's out andabout and I can just lend a hand
as a volunteer.
Sonia Nolan (03:02):
Yeah. But what were the first couple of months like
when you were actually startinggetting InsTRUCKta! out there?
Rob Sharpe (03:07):
It was, it was a challenge, give you an idea, I
was looking for an exit from thetransport industry as a driver.
And I found myself looking foralternative, alternative
employment. Because I justdidn't feel safe as a truck
driver anymore, the roads weregetting more and more dangerous
out there with interactions withlight vehicles. So when I
(03:29):
actually saw that Transafe WAwere building the InsTRUCKta
safety truck, I thought that's areally well worth project to get
on board with. So I suppose thatwas a catalyst to me getting out
of a truck as a driver andtrying to make a difference. As
a road safety advocate.
Sonia Nolan (03:46):
Yeah, look there's so there's so much within that,
Rob, that I really want tounderstand because - so you talk
about not feeling safe as atruckie so, is it every day
you're seeing something happen?
Rob Sharpe (03:56):
Absolutely. You're surrounded by people who don't
understand what a truck driverhas to go through with. With
regards to the space we need,braking distances that we need
to, to pull up safely. And Isuppose just the whole, the
overtaking, the cutting in, theblind spots that people are not
(04:16):
aware of, as well. So there'sjust so many things out there
that were happening on a dailybasis that really puts you into
a position where you think "I'vejust had enough." So there's a
lot of people that are hangingup the keys as well for the same
reason. And I suppose mycatalyst to go over to Transafe
was to try and change that. As adriver, you can only change your
(04:36):
behaviour on the road. Whereasas a road safety advocate, you
have the chance to try andimpart some knowledge to a
greater amount of people and getthem doing the right thing
around the truckies andhopefully we'll stop the the
exodus of good experienceddrivers from the industry as
well.
Sonia Nolan (04:54):
Yeah, so there's so much that instructor is here to
do. So it's to change theworkplace for truckies, because
of course also, you know, thisis something that you know,
you've taught me, that theworkplace for a truckie is the
road, you know. Our workplaces,may be an office, it might be an
industry or you know, whateverour offices or workplaces look
like. But as a truckie, yourworkplace is actually the road.
Rob Sharpe (05:15):
That's correct. And yeah, your workplace is the
road, your cabin is your office,it's your bedroom. It's
everything for the truck driversas well. And there's a lot of
truck drivers out there that arespending multiple nights per
week in their truck. So it iseverything like you say it's
their workplace. It's their,their bedroom.
Sonia Nolan (05:32):
Mm, yeah so actually making sure that it's a
safe workplace, which everybodywants a safe workplace is not
unreasonable.
Rob Sharpe (05:39):
No that's right. And we all deserve to, to go to work
and to come home safely fromthat, from that job as well.
Sonia Nolan (05:45):
Yeah, absolutely.
So tell me what some of the mainissues of road safety involving
trucks and other vehicles are.
Rob Sharpe (05:54):
I suppose, and this goes back to what we're teaching
people with InsTRUCKta, is we'remaking them more aware of the
trucks blind spots. So trucksare big. Even though we sit up
nice and high, there's a lot ofareas beside our truck, in front
of the truck. And also behindwhere we don't, we can't
actually see those vehicles inthat area or pedestrians in that
(06:14):
area or bike riders in thatarea. So we're teaching people
about blind spots. We're alsoteaching people about how to
interact at intersections wherea truck is turning, for example,
trucks are legally allowed toturn from the second or even the
third lane to execute left orright turn. And the reason for
that is that we're quite long,we've got one or two trailers,
(06:36):
and those trailers will actuallycut corners as we turn so the
prime mover will take one route,and the trailers being being
towed will actually cut thosecorners. So we're making people
aware that when we're turningnot to come up on the inside and
into our blind spot. We're alsoteaching people how to interact
(06:57):
safely when they're overtakingas well. So we're teaching them
that double white lines are notto be crossed, hills, around
corners, and all those sorts ofthings. So unless you can see...
Sonia Nolan (07:08):
These are standard things that we should know,
right, Rob?
Rob Sharpe (07:10):
Yes, that's right, we should know.
Sonia Nolan (07:11):
Okay so it's a refresher. We'll be kind - lets
say it's a refresher.
Rob Sharpe (07:14):
And, you know, as a truck driver, you see so many
situations where the truckdriver can't see forward safely
to, you know, to work outwhether there's cars coming,
whether it be a corner or ablind hill, and we've still got
people behind us attempting toovertake or to have a look to
see whether it's safe toovertake. So, in that scenario,
you know, I always say topeople, if there's a broken
(07:37):
line, then that is a safeindication that if there's no
oncoming that's a nice spot topass. When it's a double white
line, it's not a safe spot topass. So there's no point even
having a look to see whetherthere is oncoming vehicles.
Sonia Nolan (07:50):
I think everyone's got this sort of misnomer that
no one wants to get stuck behinda truck.
Rob Sharpe (07:54):
Yeah, that's right.
And, and we always want to be infront of a truck because you
know, the the view from behindour trucks, not all that
attractive, let's face it. Butyeah, there's just that human,
human need to be in front of atruck. Or not to be sitting
behind a truck going slow. Sothe truck driver out there is,
you know, he's driving, he's aprofessional. So if you're
behind them, obviously not tooclose, obviously, you know, back
(08:17):
far enough that you can avoidany obstacles that the truck
might have passed over, whetherthat be a dead kangaroo or
wildlife on the road. So it'salways safe to hold back a
little bit. And allow yourselfsome braking distance.
Sonia Nolan (08:32):
And give everyone some space. I think that's part
of the rules, isn't it?
Rob Sharpe (08:36):
Yeah, and that's what we're pushing for is just
more space, more appreciationand consideration on the road
for truckies. I mean, it's theirwork, it's their workplace.
They're not on holidays. Mosttimes, they've got a deadline,
you know, they're trying to getfrom A to B in time for their
fatigue breaks and everythingelse as well.
Sonia Nolan (08:53):
Yeah, yeah, so a bit of a bit of respect for the
truckies
Rob Sharpe (08:55):
Absolutely.
Sonia Nolan (08:57):
So tell me about InsTRUCKta because that, you
know, that's just a gamechanger, isn't it?
Rob Sharpe (09:02):
It is, so InsTRUCKta - I suppose I'll take it back a
little bit. There was a pilotprogramme back in 2016, where
Transafe WA brought theAustralian Trucking
Association's safety truck overto Western Australia. And we had
it here in 2016, and from thatpilot programme, it was decided
that we would translate, wouldbuild a safety truck of our own,
(09:26):
so we'd have a dedicated WesternAustralian safety truck. For
five years later, all thefunding, grant funding was
secured to initially get it offthe ground and get it built. And
so the truck is now built,launched on 25th of January this
year, t's out and about on theroads and it's designed to teach
our current and future roadusers how to interact safely
(09:48):
with trucks and heavy vehicles.
And when I say heavy vehiclesthat also includes buses and
horse floats and and othervehicles.
Sonia Nolan (09:55):
Caravan?
Rob Sharpe (09:56):
Caravans, so yeah, technically they're classing
into that heavy vehicle status Imean they don't stop as well as
a normal standard car, they arelonger, they are wider. So yeah,
they would, they would fit intothat category as well.
Sonia Nolan (10:10):
And just run me through what instructor looks
like because it's a bitbeautiful
Rob Sharpe (10:14):
It is. So the colour purple wrapped with it.
Sonia Nolan (10:17):
Yeah, any Dockers fans will love it.
Rob Sharpe (10:19):
Or Cadbury chocolate fans.
Sonia Nolan (10:21):
Oh look, two of my favourite things.
Gee, that's long.
Rob Sharpe (10:23):
Absolutely. So the trailer itself, it's a Sitrak
It is, yep. So ittakes up a fair bit of space on
prime mover, which has beenkindly supplied by Sitrak
Australia for our use. So that'sbright purple, it's been
wrapped. We've also, or thetrailer itself is wrapped as
the road. But at communityevents, we open it up, we've got
well in purple and curiosityevoking colour scheme. And that
trailer is a custom builttrailer that double expands out
(10:46):
to almost nine metres wide, thewhole units 19 metres long.
a nice set of stairs that accessthe trailer. And inside that
trailer, we've got 10 truckseats, and on those trucks
seats, we've got VR headsets. Sowe seat our participants on the
(11:07):
truck seats, put their seatbelton, we then feed them with a set
of virtual reality goggles. Andthen we immerse them into the
cabinet of a prime mover. So thesame prime mover that tows the
trailer.
Sonia Nolan (11:16):
So they are pretending to be a truckie.
Rob Sharpe (11:18):
They are, yeah, so they're getting an in cab view
of trucks blind spots, they cansee the mirrors, they can look
up and see the UHF, you know,handpiece above them, they can
see the seat beside them, theycan look around inside the cabin
of the truck. And then alsothey're looking into the mirrors
and we're directing them througha through an audio commands, I
(11:38):
suppose, to look in the leftmirror, look in the right
mirror, and they see what thetruck driver can and can't see.
What we then do is we removeparts of the cabin through
virtual reality. And we givethem a look through the cabin
through the metal of the cabinto see that there's a for
example, lady with a pramwalking past the front of the
truck, which you know, she'stotally obscured because of her
(12:01):
position in front of the truck.
So we do all those sorts ofthings to try and give the
participant a real solid view ofwhat the truck driver can and
can't see. We also then pullthem up out of the truck seat
into an aerial view from fromabove, which is quite, quite
frightening for some people whenall sudden the truck disappears
and they're floating up in thesky. But we do that to give them
a better view of our - or morespatial awareness in that view,
(12:25):
so they can actually see thedistance around the vehicle
where people are, let's sayhiding in the blind spots.
Sonia Nolan (12:35):
Do you have a simulation where you've got a
car trying to cut in in front ofthe truck?
Rob Sharpe (12:40):
We do. Inside the - or with the VR we've actually
got four experiences. So wecover the trucks blind spots, we
cover overtaking, we cover thetrucks turning, and also cutting
in front of trucks as well.
Sonia Nolan (12:54):
So they've got those four opportunities to have
a look through the lens,literally the lens of what it
would be like to be a truckie.
And what are some of the- whatssome of the feedback, what do
they say when they come out ofthat experience?
Rob Sharpe (13:07):
Look, the feedbacks been really good. You know,
general consensus is thateveryone agrees that it should
actually be taught to all of ourfuture drivers and the majority
of our current road users aswell. So one of the one of the
key learnings I suppose is, isthat people see the do not
overtake turning vehicle signson the back of a heavy vehicle.
But they don't actuallyunderstand that, that means the
(13:30):
truck is over 7.5 metres long,and they're legally allowed to
turn from the second or thirdlane to execute a left or right
turn. So that's one of thelearnings that comes from our
experience and the other one isthe trucks blind spots. A lot of
people aren't aware that we havethese large blind spots around
the trucks cabinet and aroundthe trailer.
Sonia Nolan (13:49):
So worthwhile.
People probably come out ofthere with a whole bunch of
"Ah-ha!" moments. I did notrealise that that was the case.
Rob Sharpe (13:56):
That's correct. Yep.
So it's definitely a worthwhileexperience to for people to, to
have a look at. Inside thetrailer we've also got 10
tablets that are wall mounted.
And they've got for differentage group appropriate quiz
learnings in there as well. Sowhether it be five to seven
years old or 16 plus, they canselect an age appropriate level
and then they go through adifferent lot of questions,
(14:20):
which cover road rules andinteractions with heavy vehicles
and, and so on. We've also got ashort throw projector which
projects onto the back wall ofthe trailer on the inside. And
that covers everything frommobile phone use to roundabouts
and merging and other WesternAustralian road rules. So quite
a lot of information.
Sonia Nolan (14:42):
There's a lot going on in that truck, isn't there?
Rob Sharpe (14:44):
There is. And then we also give our participants
the opportunity to climb intothe actual cabinet of the truck.
And then they can sit in there,they can have a look around and
see firsthand looking at the themirrors and seeing the blind
spots. And what we're alsotrying to do on top of the
actual safety side of things,we're actually trying to
encourage people into theindustry and to look at a
(15:04):
professional truck driving as acareer. And which, because we
are trying to get, we're tryingto cover the shortfall that
we're going to end up with, asfar as truck drivers are
concerned,
Sonia Nolan (15:14):
Well, if the numbers stack up, like you know,
like I said in my intro, thatit's going to double by the next
nine years and what treble by2050 That's a lot of trucks and
that's a lot of truck driversthat you're going to need.
Rob Sharpe (15:26):
That's right, and we're looking for good truck
drivers and people that arepassionate about being a
professional truck driver. It's,it's, it's quite a good job, you
know, you get to look out thewindow and get to travel to
different places every day.
Listen to podcasts andaudiobooks and all those
important things as well.
Sonia Nolan (15:42):
And in fact, tell me a little bit about your truck
driving because I know you usedto do the milk run down to
Esperance.
Rob Sharpe (15:48):
I did
Sonia Nolan (15:48):
And every now and then the occasional choc-milk
didn't make it.
Rob Sharpe (15:51):
Iced coffees.
Sonia Nolan (15:52):
Iced coffees, there you go.
Rob Sharpe (15:53):
Guilty as charged.
So I drove for near on 10 yearsfrom Perth to Esperance
delivering milk and alsodelivering milk in between and
doing a bit of a milk run on theway home. So I would call into
places like Hopetown and BremerBay and so on until I had
delivered all the orders. I wasleaving Perth on a Monday coming
back on a Tuesday leaving Perthagain on a Thursday and coming
(16:14):
back on a on a Friday. So onlyfour days a week, but longer
hours than a normal office job.
And you know, I'll say 1.4million kilometres in, in that
time period. So saw my fairshare of silly behaviour on the
road.
Sonia Nolan (16:31):
Is there one that stands out the most that you
just sort of like really can'tbelieve that people were that
silly.
Rob Sharpe (16:38):
I've had situations where I've been in town watching
a car for 15 seconds waiting atan intersection. And when I was
less than 25 metres away, thecar pulled out of the
intersection and crossed theroad. And there was quite - I'd
been watching this car for quitesome time. And I was just
baffled that it decided thatvery last minute just to pull
out. So there's some crazy stuffout there. Caravan, as you know,
(17:03):
are a bit of a problem on theroad at times when they travel
in, in convoy together. Anddon't leave enough gap for truck
drivers to delete from each carand Caravan safely. Even when
there's four or five of themtravelling nose to tail. There's
there's no way we can get past.
But the list would go on.
Sonia Nolan (17:23):
We have a whole podcast series about it,
couldn't we? Yeah, exactly,right. So just on that though, I
did want to just note astatistic that I did read, which
talked about 80% of fatalaccidents involving cars and
trucks in Australia are deemedto be the fault of the car
driver and not the heavy vehicledriver. And that's, you know,
(17:43):
data from October 2020. Thatreally does show that you know
that drivers do need to bebetter educated because it is a
life or death at times,
Rob Sharpe (17:53):
it is for sure. And the light vehicle drivers are
the vulnerable drivers. They'rethe the vulnerable road users.
It's the to the truckies thatare more well protected in their
in their cabins. But it'sdefinitely an alarming
statistic. It is starting todrop, we're finding that it used
to be around 80%. It is comingdown into the lower 70s which is
(18:14):
also slightly alarming thatwe're either getting better,
better car drivers out there allwe're getting less safe truck
drivers out there. And I thinksome of those statistics are -
there's explanations for them, Iguess. Truck drivers leave a
nice gap or a safe distance fromthe vehicle in front. And then
the bigger gap they leave, themore cars jump into that gap.
Sonia Nolan (18:36):
Oh, it just fills up, doesn't it? They go "Great!
Fantastic, he's left a spot."
Rob Sharpe (18:39):
Exactly. And so what what sort of is happening in the
industry is truck drivers areleaving a little bit less gap
there. And that can be acontributing factor to you know,
a rear ending into a car becausethey haven't left enough gap
there or a cars jumped into thatgap.
Sonia Nolan (18:56):
It's like damned if you do and damned if you don't,
isn't it? Yeah, tricky, verytricky.
Rob Sharpe (19:02):
You're listening to My Warm Table podcast. My name
is Rob Sharpe. And myconversation with Sonia is all
about Transafe WA and our roadsafety initiatives.
Sonia Nolan (19:11):
So we've talked quite a bit about InsTRUCKta
which is great, and I can't waitto see it. I was I was hoping
we'd be able to record thispodcast in the InsTRUCKta, but
you did say that the airconditioning is probably a bit
too noisy for us to do that. SoI'm still waiting to actually
see the InsTRUCKta. But youknow, in real life, I've only
seen photos and videos of it. Soyou're at community fairs, at
(19:32):
industry events, at school. Sotell me what you do.
So thank you toeveryone who's supporting or
Rob Sharpe (19:36):
So we take it out to like you say, schools and
maybe wants to supportInsTRUCKta and Transafe WA.
community events also industryevents as well. So whether it be
a Coca Cola Open Day or a Boralopen day that we've got planned
for this weekend coming up. Wetake that to schools and
community events. The schoolsare where we really want to tap
into because that's where ourour future road users are, our
(19:57):
16 our 17 year old Keys for Lifeprogrammes That's where we want
to really tap into that market.
Unfortunately, at the momentbeing a not for profit
organisation, we are industryfunded for different events we
go to so whether it be GreatSouthern Fuels who have recently
sponsored us to be at Daron andalso Newdegate Field Days. We
are looking for sponsorship thatgives us the funding that we can
(20:19):
then choose to go to the schoolsas well.
Yeah, that'scorrect. We've got all of our
safety partners and sponsors onour trailer. We've got them all
their stickers and logos onthere. So we also promote them
(20:40):
through our social mediaplatforms as well. But yeah,
just saying a reattribution,even again, without these safety
partners, without these guys,you know, we wouldn't have a
truck to tow it around, wewouldn't have the financial
support to go out to schools andother different places around
our regional and metropolitanareas. We wouldn't be able to be
(21:01):
out there on the road.
Sonia Nolan (21:02):
Yeah. And it's so important that you are out there
on the road. That's correct.
Tell me about Transafe WA then,obviously InsTRUCKta is just one
exciting, innovative project.
But what else does Transafe WAdo?
Rob Sharpe (21:14):
So Transafe WA was founded by the late Mr. Steve
Post in 2014. It's a not forprofit industry initiative with
the vision of aiding thedelivery of safer transport
industry workplaces, and byfostering and promoting safe
work practices. So we deliverevents and projects for both the
road transport industry and thegeneral public, focused on safer
(21:36):
heavy vehicle interactions andoperations. We also do road
safety forums as well. So we'vegot a Road Safety Forum, planned
for Esperance, later in theyear, and we do regional and
also metropolitan Road SafetyForum. So these Forums, we talk
about different industryinitiatives, different
technology that's available tomake the road safer, and also
(21:59):
other support agencies that helpalong the way, whether that be
injury matters or you know,Walga Roadwise and different
other organisations that weinvite along to inform our
participants about the forum's.
Sonia Nolan (22:12):
Are you part of that? It's held at the RAC arena
every year eleven and twelvekids.
Rob Sharpe (22:21):
We haven't been, but that's one of my challenges is
to touch base with those guysand get involved with the - I
think it's the Street Smart RAC.
Sonia Nolan (22:30):
It's so powerful, so powerful, both of my kids
went along to see that and it isabsolutely powerful. And like
you've said, you know, trying toget into the hearts and minds of
the, you know, 16 and 17 yearold, you know, young people who
are just about to get thatfreedom of their licence and
their plates and their cars and,you know, sort of heart attacks
(22:51):
for their parents who were just,you know, so anxious about, you
know, knowing the road is notalways a safe place, and yet
with inexperienced drivers, soyeah, so that's, it's amazing
what they do. Yeah.
Rob Sharpe (23:02):
And that's, that's one of our problems, as well.
All of our new drivers, they getthe keys and the first thing
they want to do is a road trip.
And most of the populardestinations that they want to
go to, are also shared by heavyhaulage. So that in itself
causes a problem, theyunderestimate the length of
these trucks, some of our trucksin the northern part of Western
(23:22):
Australia up to 60 metres long.
So it's a inexperienced driversnightmare to try and pass one of
those trucks and overtaking iswhere we're seeing a lot of our
problems as well.
Sonia Nolan (23:35):
Overtaking Of course, yeah. What about things
like texting while they'redriving? And, you know, and I'm
not just saying young peopleeither here, I'm just saying,
you know, are they some of theissues that you see regularly
that Transafe is really tryingto crack down on?
Rob Sharpe (23:50):
Yeah, look it's driver distraction, and that,
whether that be mobile phone useor distraction from your
passengers in your vehicle, orwhatever it might be - driver
distraction is a big problem.
And we see that on a regularbasis.
Sonia Nolan (24:05):
So what do you suggest? If you've got a small
child in the car who is verydistracting? For example, what
what do you suggest regardingdriver distraction, there's
obviously stuff you can minimiseand totally eliminate by you
know, don't use your phone andall the rest. But are there
things you suggest?
Rob Sharpe (24:24):
Definitely put your phone down, all that can wait.
There's nothing more importantthan getting there safely. And
with your, with your children inthe car as well, you know, there
are times when that distractionhas to be ignored. You just need
to drive safely. And if you needto pull over, you know, sort out
your distraction and get back onthe road.
Sonia Nolan (24:42):
We've talked about young drivers just getting their
licence and you want to be partof that case case for life sort
of experience. But I know you'vealso got a goal about the hazard
perception test.
Rob Sharpe (24:52):
Sonia, one of our goals is to actually get the
interactions with trucks intothe hazard perception test. And
that way we're teaching ourfuture road users on how to
interact safely with trucks.
Unfortunately, the hazardperception test does not teach
them anything around heavyvehicle interactions. So it's
one of our goals is to get itinto every licencing centre in
WA.
Sonia Nolan (25:12):
Yeah, that sounds great. Because at the moment,
what does the hazard perceptiontest cover? Gravel, or is it
night driving, what sort ofstuff is in there?
Rob Sharpe (25:20):
No, none of that. So it's basically all about passing
your test and the things youneed to know whether it be a
ball rolling across the road andhaving to brake at the right
time for that ball going acrossthe road. And there could be a
child following it. So it's,it's fairly basic in terms. It's
not not broad for our regionaland our road experience here in
(25:43):
WA.
Sonia Nolan (25:43):
Okay, well, good luck with that goal, Rob,
because I think that's a goodone. I think that makes a lot of
sense. I'm so excited that thisis a new, a new role for you in
the sense of having been atruckie and done the hard yards
and the many miles there andyour experience that you were
able to bring and also yourprofessional experience in
(26:04):
business and management. Youknow, you really are in my view,
the ideal person to be promotingTransafe safe road policies and
and you know, action.
Rob Sharpe (26:15):
From a truck drivers point of view, I can empathise
with what they go through on adaily basis. And I can actually,
with my background, I supposelook at the different
initiatives that we can develop,to make the truck drivers life
safer, and more enjoyable, and,and also protecting our
vulnerable road users.
Sonia Nolan (26:36):
You said earlier, Rob, that, you know, where we
want to travel is often in theregions and go to all these
lovely holiday spots that we'vegot around Western Australia.
But you know, are our regionalroads as good or as safe as our
city roads?
Rob Sharpe (26:52):
Sonia, the roads in the country areas are sometimes
more hazardous because we've gotwildlife and other different
road conditions that make itmore challenging. Rural road
crashes account for more than65% of the Australian road toll.
The rate of serious road relatedinjury in rural areas is nearly
(27:14):
twice as high as as what it isin the cities
Sonia Nolan (27:16):
Oh gosh, twice as high. That's a lot. And what
65%, it accounts for 65% of thewhole Australian road toll.
Rob Sharpe (27:23):
Yes.
Sonia Nolan (27:23):
That's - that's not just Western Australia, though,
the regions, that's regionsaround Australia?
Rob Sharpe (27:28):
That's correct, that's describing it more.
Sonia Nolan (27:29):
Wow.
Rob Sharpe (27:30):
So as mentioned, high referral roads are used by
91% of Australians at least oncea year.
Sonia Nolan (27:39):
And that allocates you know, it goes down to
holiday time, right? If you useit once that Yeah. Okay. So
you're driving in I'm sorry, I'mjust sort of thinking, my brains
ticking over here. So we're,obviously we're off on holiday.
We're all excited. But we'redriving in unfamiliar territory,
really, aren't we?
Rob Sharpe (27:54):
That's correct, they're new roads to us.
Sonia Nolan (27:55):
They are new roads.
It's not something that we doevery day. And we've got excited
kids in the car, or we've got,you know, maybe the family dogs
in there as well, and off yougo. And you're no doubt with a
whole bunch of other people whoare using the road for the first
time again, for a long time.
Rob Sharpe (28:10):
Yep, and you've got truck drivers on those roads
that are very familiar withthose roads. They know where
they're going and what they'redoing. It's the vulnerable road
users that have the challenge onthe road.
Sonia Nolan (28:21):
Yeah that's right, exactly. Right. Sorry, you were
gonna share some more statisticswith me.
Rob Sharpe (28:25):
So traffic injury is the biggest killer of Australian
Children under 15. And thesecond biggest killer of all
Australians aged between 15 and24. So these numbers are growing
every year, but are preventable.
If we all drive to or drive aswell as survive, I guess. The
state government's goal is toget to a zero row tall, which
(28:46):
is, you know, it's achievable.
But we've just got to all bemore considerate on the road.
Sonia Nolan (28:55):
So give us some tips. Rob, give us some tips
about how we can all be moreconsiderate on the road.
Rob Sharpe (29:01):
Okay, from a truck and light vehicle interactions
side of things. I supposedrivers should always wait for
the right opportunity to safelyovertake a truck, even if it
means being extra patient andusing overtaking lane when it
becomes available.
Sonia Nolan (29:15):
So that word "patient" I think is key, isn't
it?
Rob Sharpe (29:18):
It is yeah.
Sonia Nolan (29:18):
And we're not good at that. But that is just
absolutely key.
Rob Sharpe (29:22):
And don't be tempted to risk to get to your
destination a little bitearlier. Because if you try and
overtake at the wrong time, youmay not get there at all.
Sonia Nolan (29:29):
Yeah, that's right.
And you know, in reality, youmight get there five minutes
earlier, three minutes, youknow, it's really actually not,
it's negligible, like how muchearly you're gonna get there.
Rob Sharpe (29:39):
And you might be surprised as to what you
actually see on the side of theroad and the scenery that you
might enjoy a little bit betterif you're around not in so much
of a rush.
Sonia Nolan (29:47):
It's so true, isn't it? And there are so many
picturesque places that youknow, stop and enjoy and you
know, it's the journey, not thedestination, really, isn't it?
Rob Sharpe (29:56):
Yeah, enjoy the road trip. And we find as humans, I
suppose we want everyone infront to hurry up, and we want
everyone behind us to bepatient. And therein lies half
our problems on the road. So wejust need to be a bit more
courteous.
Sonia Nolan (30:10):
So true. It's funny, I remember, having this
conversation with my husband andhis brothers and their family of
big road trip, you know, theyalways went camping on holidays
growing up and always off youknow, sort of off they go, and
they'd leave early, and they'darrive and, and the dad was not
- my father, beautiful father -but he was not a stopper, as
(30:31):
they would call it. Say, not astopper, just get in there and
you just keep going till you getto your destination. And Paul
and his brothers, so my husbandand his brothers, were talking
about them all going now withtheir families on holidays. And
they turned to Paul and theysaid, "Oh, have you become a
stopper? Oh, my gosh, you stop?"and we go to the bakery and we
stop here and we you know, planthe trip according to our stops.
(30:55):
In fact, we plan our trips,according to the bakeries,
right? And, and everyone wasjust amazed the family was
amazed at that he was actually astopper that he was actually
going to stop and enjoy thewhole journey and they've all
become stoppers. All becomestoppers.
Rob Sharpe (31:10):
Yes. Sonia, I grew up in the passenger side of a
truck. My father was acontractor. And we didn't stop
very often. So when he did stop,it was definitely a treat for
the bladder and also for thebelly. So yeah, we didn't stop
very much as well. So I thinkwe're dad fit into the same,
same category.
Sonia Nolan (31:28):
I wonder if it's a generational thing then. I don't
know. I don't know. But I guesswe've still got the same issues,
haven't we?
Rob Sharpe (31:33):
We have. Yeah, for sure.
Sonia Nolan (31:35):
So become a stopper, stop and enjoy the
ride. Give your bladder a break,get a treat from a local bakery
and then really enjoy the roadtrip. Like you've said.
Rob Sharpe (31:44):
That's the plan.
Sonia Nolan (31:45):
Yeah. Great. Oh, Rob, thank you so much. It's
been such a pleasure to have youaround the Warm Table.
Rob Sharpe (31:49):
Thank you, Sonia.
It's been my pleasure to be hereon your Warm Table.
Sonia Nolan (31:53):
Fantastic. Thanks for joining me Sonia Nolan
around the Warm Table. Let'sgrow the community. Please
Kelli Reilly FOFF (31:58):
Hi ladies, it's Kelli here, creator and
follow My Warm Table podcast onsocials and like and share this
episode with your family andfriends. My Warm Table is
brought to you by Females Over45 Fitness. Keep listening now
for a health tip from FOFF headcoach Kelli Reilly.
head coach of Females Over 45Fitness. Testosterone levels. Do
(32:23):
you know your levels? Because aswe age, our testosterone levels
drop. Now testosterone helpsbuild muscle and burn calories.
So this hormone imbalance leadsto muscle loss and also lowers
your metabolism. So doingstrength training, we need to
help build muscle mass up sothat we can burn more calories.
(32:45):
Okay, so ladies, it's your timeto shine.
Welcome to My Warm Table. I'm Sonia Nolan and
(00:02):
season two of this podcast aboutpassion and purpose is brought
to you by Females Over 45Fitness or FOFF, in Victoria
Park.
Introductory Voice Over of P (00:14):
My name is Kate Chaney. My name is
Bonnie Davies. My name isMadeleine King. My name is
Valerio Fantinelli. My name isLyn Beazley. My name is
Alexandra Helen Flanagan Hi, myname is Sharon Todd. My name is
Lucy Cooke and I'm the CEO ofSpaceDraft. I'm the first
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Motion by the Ocean. I'm apsychologist and a professor in
psychology at Curtin University.
CEO and founder of LionheartCamp for Kids. Around My Warm
Table. Or listening on SoniaNolan's My Warm Table. Just
sharing a yarn with her.
Sonia Nolan (00:36):
Western Australia would come to a stop if it
wasn't for the work of ouramazing truck drivers cutting
everything from milk tomachinery across our vast state.
I've always had a very deeprespect for truckies when I see
them on the road, their imposingloads and big rigs commanding
the lane, and we're gonna seemore and more trucks on our
roads. In fact, projections tipthat the numbers are going to
(00:59):
double in the next nine yearsand treble by 2050. So it's
really important as drivers thatwe know how to share our roads
safely with trucks. And that'swhere today's Warm Table guest
Rob Sharpee comes in. Rob hastraversed more than 1.4 million
kilometres as a truckie and he'shad a bird's eye view of more
(01:19):
than his fair share of closecalls and crazy risk taking by
big and small cars andmotorbikes, literally trying to
squeeze their way ahead of atruck. So it's no wonder that
he's a huge advocate for RoadSafety and it's become his
passion and purpose. Rob hasalso got a business development
and management background. So hewas the ideal choice to head up
(01:42):
Transafe WA and its innovativeproject InsTRUCKta! Transafe WA
is a non for profit organisationand InsTRUCKta! is its big
purple semitrailer decked outwith virtual reality simulations
and engaging tools to teachyoung and old how to interact
safely with trucks. You'llusually find Rob at a community
(02:03):
fair or an industry event or ata school somewhere in WA with
his big purple instructorvehicle. But today, though, I'm
so pleased that Rob is joiningme around the Warm Table to tell
us more about how we can shareour roads safely. Welcome, Rob.
Rob Sharpe (02:19):
Thank you. I'm very glad to be here at the Warm
Table.
Sonia Nolan (02:22):
It's so good to reconnect, Rob. Really good to
reconnect because I've heard theexcitement of InsTRUCKta! as
it's been building and you'vebeen waiting for it to arrive.
And and now it's absolutelyfully fledged now in the
universe of WA teaching roadsafety.
Rob Sharpe (02:38):
Yes, thank you. It's really good to have it out there
on the road. We've- we launchedin January this year. And it's
already been to an excess of 20events around the WA, Metro and
regional areas.
Sonia Nolan (02:50):
Yeah, you've been busy, haven't you?
Rob Sharpe (02:51):
Certainly have.
Thankfully, we've now got adriver full time for that
vehicle. So InsTRUCKta's out andabout and I can just lend a hand
as a volunteer.
Sonia Nolan (03:02):
Yeah. But what were the first couple of months like
when you were actually startinggetting InsTRUCKta! out there?
Rob Sharpe (03:07):
It was, it was a challenge, give you an idea, I
was looking for an exit from thetransport industry as a driver.
And I found myself looking foralternative, alternative
employment. Because I justdidn't feel safe as a truck
driver anymore, the roads weregetting more and more dangerous
out there with interactions withlight vehicles. So when I
(03:29):
actually saw that Transafe WAwere building the InsTRUCKta
safety truck, I thought that's areally well worth project to get
on board with. So I suppose thatwas a catalyst to me getting out
of a truck as a driver andtrying to make a difference. As
a road safety advocate.
Sonia Nolan (03:46):
Yeah, look there's so there's so much within that,
Rob, that I really want tounderstand because - so you talk
about not feeling safe as atruckie so, is it every day
you're seeing something happen?
Rob Sharpe (03:56):
Absolutely. You're surrounded by people who don't
understand what a truck driverhas to go through with. With
regards to the space we need,braking distances that we need
to, to pull up safely. And Isuppose just the whole, the
overtaking, the cutting in, theblind spots that people are not
(04:16):
aware of, as well. So there'sjust so many things out there
that were happening on a dailybasis that really puts you into
a position where you think "I'vejust had enough." So there's a
lot of people that are hangingup the keys as well for the same
reason. And I suppose mycatalyst to go over to Transafe
was to try and change that. As adriver, you can only change your
(04:36):
behaviour on the road. Whereasas a road safety advocate, you
have the chance to try andimpart some knowledge to a
greater amount of people and getthem doing the right thing
around the truckies andhopefully we'll stop the the
exodus of good experienceddrivers from the industry as
well.
Sonia Nolan (04:54):
Yeah, so there's so much that instructor is here to
do. So it's to change theworkplace for truckies, because
of course also, you know, thisis something that you know,
you've taught me, that theworkplace for a truckie is the
road, you know. Our workplaces,may be an office, it might be an
industry or you know, whateverour offices or workplaces look
like. But as a truckie, yourworkplace is actually the road.
Rob Sharpe (05:15):
That's correct. And yeah, your workplace is the
road, your cabin is your office,it's your bedroom. It's
everything for the truck driversas well. And there's a lot of
truck drivers out there that arespending multiple nights per
week in their truck. So it iseverything like you say it's
their workplace. It's their,their bedroom.
Sonia Nolan (05:32):
Mm, yeah so actually making sure that it's a
safe workplace, which everybodywants a safe workplace is not
unreasonable.
Rob Sharpe (05:39):
No that's right. And we all deserve to, to go to work
and to come home safely fromthat, from that job as well.
Sonia Nolan (05:45):
Yeah, absolutely.
So tell me what some of the mainissues of road safety involving
trucks and other vehicles are.
Rob Sharpe (05:54):
I suppose, and this goes back to what we're teaching
people with InsTRUCKta, is we'remaking them more aware of the
trucks blind spots. So trucksare big. Even though we sit up
nice and high, there's a lot ofareas beside our truck, in front
of the truck. And also behindwhere we don't, we can't
actually see those vehicles inthat area or pedestrians in that
(06:14):
area or bike riders in thatarea. So we're teaching people
about blind spots. We're alsoteaching people about how to
interact at intersections wherea truck is turning, for example,
trucks are legally allowed toturn from the second or even the
third lane to execute left orright turn. And the reason for
that is that we're quite long,we've got one or two trailers,
(06:36):
and those trailers will actuallycut corners as we turn so the
prime mover will take one route,and the trailers being being
towed will actually cut thosecorners. So we're making people
aware that when we're turningnot to come up on the inside and
into our blind spot. We're alsoteaching people how to interact
(06:57):
safely when they're overtakingas well. So we're teaching them
that double white lines are notto be crossed, hills, around
corners, and all those sorts ofthings. So unless you can see...
Sonia Nolan (07:08):
These are standard things that we should know,
right, Rob?
Rob Sharpe (07:10):
Yes, that's right, we should know.
Sonia Nolan (07:11):
Okay so it's a refresher. We'll be kind - lets
say it's a refresher.
Rob Sharpe (07:14):
And, you know, as a truck driver, you see so many
situations where the truckdriver can't see forward safely
to, you know, to work outwhether there's cars coming,
whether it be a corner or ablind hill, and we've still got
people behind us attempting toovertake or to have a look to
see whether it's safe toovertake. So, in that scenario,
you know, I always say topeople, if there's a broken
(07:37):
line, then that is a safeindication that if there's no
oncoming that's a nice spot topass. When it's a double white
line, it's not a safe spot topass. So there's no point even
having a look to see whetherthere is oncoming vehicles.
Sonia Nolan (07:50):
I think everyone's got this sort of misnomer that
no one wants to get stuck behinda truck.
Rob Sharpe (07:54):
Yeah, that's right.
And, and we always want to be infront of a truck because you
know, the the view from behindour trucks, not all that
attractive, let's face it. Butyeah, there's just that human,
human need to be in front of atruck. Or not to be sitting
behind a truck going slow. Sothe truck driver out there is,
you know, he's driving, he's aprofessional. So if you're
behind them, obviously not tooclose, obviously, you know, back
(08:17):
far enough that you can avoidany obstacles that the truck
might have passed over, whetherthat be a dead kangaroo or
wildlife on the road. So it'salways safe to hold back a
little bit. And allow yourselfsome braking distance.
Sonia Nolan (08:32):
And give everyone some space. I think that's part
of the rules, isn't it?
Rob Sharpe (08:36):
Yeah, and that's what we're pushing for is just
more space, more appreciationand consideration on the road
for truckies. I mean, it's theirwork, it's their workplace.
They're not on holidays. Mosttimes, they've got a deadline,
you know, they're trying to getfrom A to B in time for their
fatigue breaks and everythingelse as well.
Sonia Nolan (08:53):
Yeah, yeah, so a bit of a bit of respect for the
truckies
Rob Sharpe (08:55):
Absolutely.
Sonia Nolan (08:57):
So tell me about InsTRUCKta because that, you
know, that's just a gamechanger, isn't it?
Rob Sharpe (09:02):
It is, so InsTRUCKta - I suppose I'll take it back a
little bit. There was a pilotprogramme back in 2016, where
Transafe WA brought theAustralian Trucking
Association's safety truck overto Western Australia. And we had
it here in 2016, and from thatpilot programme, it was decided
that we would translate, wouldbuild a safety truck of our own,
(09:26):
so we'd have a dedicated WesternAustralian safety truck. For
five years later, all thefunding, grant funding was
secured to initially get it offthe ground and get it built. And
so the truck is now built,launched on 25th of January this
year, t's out and about on theroads and it's designed to teach
our current and future roadusers how to interact safely
(09:48):
with trucks and heavy vehicles.
And when I say heavy vehiclesthat also includes buses and
horse floats and and othervehicles.
Sonia Nolan (09:55):
Caravan?
Rob Sharpe (09:56):
Caravans, so yeah, technically they're classing
into that heavy vehicle status Imean they don't stop as well as
a normal standard car, they arelonger, they are wider. So yeah,
they would, they would fit intothat category as well.
Sonia Nolan (10:10):
And just run me through what instructor looks
like because it's a bitbeautiful
Rob Sharpe (10:14):
It is. So the colour purple wrapped with it.
Sonia Nolan (10:17):
Yeah, any Dockers fans will love it.
Rob Sharpe (10:19):
Or Cadbury chocolate fans.
Sonia Nolan (10:21):
Oh look, two of my favourite things.
Gee, that's long.
Rob Sharpe (10:23):
Absolutely. So the trailer itself, it's a Sitrak
It is, yep. So ittakes up a fair bit of space on
prime mover, which has beenkindly supplied by Sitrak
Australia for our use. So that'sbright purple, it's been
wrapped. We've also, or thetrailer itself is wrapped as
the road. But at communityevents, we open it up, we've got
well in purple and curiosityevoking colour scheme. And that
trailer is a custom builttrailer that double expands out
(10:46):
to almost nine metres wide, thewhole units 19 metres long.
a nice set of stairs that accessthe trailer. And inside that
trailer, we've got 10 truckseats, and on those trucks
seats, we've got VR headsets. Sowe seat our participants on the
(11:07):
truck seats, put their seatbelton, we then feed them with a set
of virtual reality goggles. Andthen we immerse them into the
cabinet of a prime mover. So thesame prime mover that tows the
trailer.
Sonia Nolan (11:16):
So they are pretending to be a truckie.
Rob Sharpe (11:18):
They are, yeah, so they're getting an in cab view
of trucks blind spots, they cansee the mirrors, they can look
up and see the UHF, you know,handpiece above them, they can
see the seat beside them, theycan look around inside the cabin
of the truck. And then alsothey're looking into the mirrors
and we're directing them througha through an audio commands, I
(11:38):
suppose, to look in the leftmirror, look in the right
mirror, and they see what thetruck driver can and can't see.
What we then do is we removeparts of the cabin through
virtual reality. And we givethem a look through the cabin
through the metal of the cabinto see that there's a for
example, lady with a pramwalking past the front of the
truck, which you know, she'stotally obscured because of her
(12:01):
position in front of the truck.
So we do all those sorts ofthings to try and give the
participant a real solid view ofwhat the truck driver can and
can't see. We also then pullthem up out of the truck seat
into an aerial view from fromabove, which is quite, quite
frightening for some people whenall sudden the truck disappears
and they're floating up in thesky. But we do that to give them
a better view of our - or morespatial awareness in that view,
(12:25):
so they can actually see thedistance around the vehicle
where people are, let's sayhiding in the blind spots.
Sonia Nolan (12:35):
Do you have a simulation where you've got a
car trying to cut in in front ofthe truck?
Rob Sharpe (12:40):
We do. Inside the - or with the VR we've actually
got four experiences. So wecover the trucks blind spots, we
cover overtaking, we cover thetrucks turning, and also cutting
in front of trucks as well.
Sonia Nolan (12:54):
So they've got those four opportunities to have
a look through the lens,literally the lens of what it
would be like to be a truckie.
And what are some of the- whatssome of the feedback, what do
they say when they come out ofthat experience?
Rob Sharpe (13:07):
Look, the feedbacks been really good. You know,
general consensus is thateveryone agrees that it should
actually be taught to all of ourfuture drivers and the majority
of our current road users aswell. So one of the one of the
key learnings I suppose is, isthat people see the do not
overtake turning vehicle signson the back of a heavy vehicle.
But they don't actuallyunderstand that, that means the
(13:30):
truck is over 7.5 metres long,and they're legally allowed to
turn from the second or thirdlane to execute a left or right
turn. So that's one of thelearnings that comes from our
experience and the other one isthe trucks blind spots. A lot of
people aren't aware that we havethese large blind spots around
the trucks cabinet and aroundthe trailer.
Sonia Nolan (13:49):
So worthwhile.
People probably come out ofthere with a whole bunch of
"Ah-ha!" moments. I did notrealise that that was the case.
Rob Sharpe (13:56):
That's correct. Yep.
So it's definitely a worthwhileexperience to for people to, to
have a look at. Inside thetrailer we've also got 10
tablets that are wall mounted.
And they've got for differentage group appropriate quiz
learnings in there as well. Sowhether it be five to seven
years old or 16 plus, they canselect an age appropriate level
and then they go through adifferent lot of questions,
(14:20):
which cover road rules andinteractions with heavy vehicles
and, and so on. We've also got ashort throw projector which
projects onto the back wall ofthe trailer on the inside. And
that covers everything frommobile phone use to roundabouts
and merging and other WesternAustralian road rules. So quite
a lot of information.
Sonia Nolan (14:42):
There's a lot going on in that truck, isn't there?
Rob Sharpe (14:44):
There is. And then we also give our participants
the opportunity to climb intothe actual cabinet of the truck.
And then they can sit in there,they can have a look around and
see firsthand looking at the themirrors and seeing the blind
spots. And what we're alsotrying to do on top of the
actual safety side of things,we're actually trying to
encourage people into theindustry and to look at a
(15:04):
professional truck driving as acareer. And which, because we
are trying to get, we're tryingto cover the shortfall that
we're going to end up with, asfar as truck drivers are
concerned,
Sonia Nolan (15:14):
Well, if the numbers stack up, like you know,
like I said in my intro, thatit's going to double by the next
nine years and what treble by2050 That's a lot of trucks and
that's a lot of truck driversthat you're going to need.
Rob Sharpe (15:26):
That's right, and we're looking for good truck
drivers and people that arepassionate about being a
professional truck driver. It's,it's, it's quite a good job, you
know, you get to look out thewindow and get to travel to
different places every day.
Listen to podcasts andaudiobooks and all those
important things as well.
Sonia Nolan (15:42):
And in fact, tell me a little bit about your truck
driving because I know you usedto do the milk run down to
Esperance.
Rob Sharpe (15:48):
I did
Sonia Nolan (15:48):
And every now and then the occasional choc-milk
didn't make it.
Rob Sharpe (15:51):
Iced coffees.
Sonia Nolan (15:52):
Iced coffees, there you go.
Rob Sharpe (15:53):
Guilty as charged.
So I drove for near on 10 yearsfrom Perth to Esperance
delivering milk and alsodelivering milk in between and
doing a bit of a milk run on theway home. So I would call into
places like Hopetown and BremerBay and so on until I had
delivered all the orders. I wasleaving Perth on a Monday coming
back on a Tuesday leaving Perthagain on a Thursday and coming
(16:14):
back on a on a Friday. So onlyfour days a week, but longer
hours than a normal office job.
And you know, I'll say 1.4million kilometres in, in that
time period. So saw my fairshare of silly behaviour on the
road.
Sonia Nolan (16:31):
Is there one that stands out the most that you
just sort of like really can'tbelieve that people were that
silly.
Rob Sharpe (16:38):
I've had situations where I've been in town watching
a car for 15 seconds waiting atan intersection. And when I was
less than 25 metres away, thecar pulled out of the
intersection and crossed theroad. And there was quite - I'd
been watching this car for quitesome time. And I was just
baffled that it decided thatvery last minute just to pull
out. So there's some crazy stuffout there. Caravan, as you know,
(17:03):
are a bit of a problem on theroad at times when they travel
in, in convoy together. Anddon't leave enough gap for truck
drivers to delete from each carand Caravan safely. Even when
there's four or five of themtravelling nose to tail. There's
there's no way we can get past.
But the list would go on.
Sonia Nolan (17:23):
We have a whole podcast series about it,
couldn't we? Yeah, exactly,right. So just on that though, I
did want to just note astatistic that I did read, which
talked about 80% of fatalaccidents involving cars and
trucks in Australia are deemedto be the fault of the car
driver and not the heavy vehicledriver. And that's, you know,
(17:43):
data from October 2020. Thatreally does show that you know
that drivers do need to bebetter educated because it is a
life or death at times,
Rob Sharpe (17:53):
it is for sure. And the light vehicle drivers are
the vulnerable drivers. They'rethe the vulnerable road users.
It's the to the truckies thatare more well protected in their
in their cabins. But it'sdefinitely an alarming
statistic. It is starting todrop, we're finding that it used
to be around 80%. It is comingdown into the lower 70s which is
(18:14):
also slightly alarming thatwe're either getting better,
better car drivers out there allwe're getting less safe truck
drivers out there. And I thinksome of those statistics are -
there's explanations for them, Iguess. Truck drivers leave a
nice gap or a safe distance fromthe vehicle in front. And then
the bigger gap they leave, themore cars jump into that gap.
Sonia Nolan (18:36):
Oh, it just fills up, doesn't it? They go "Great!
Fantastic, he's left a spot."
Rob Sharpe (18:39):
Exactly. And so what what sort of is happening in the
industry is truck drivers areleaving a little bit less gap
there. And that can be acontributing factor to you know,
a rear ending into a car becausethey haven't left enough gap
there or a cars jumped into thatgap.
Sonia Nolan (18:56):
It's like damned if you do and damned if you don't,
isn't it? Yeah, tricky, verytricky.
Rob Sharpe (19:02):
You're listening to My Warm Table podcast. My name
is Rob Sharpe. And myconversation with Sonia is all
about Transafe WA and our roadsafety initiatives.
Sonia Nolan (19:11):
So we've talked quite a bit about InsTRUCKta
which is great, and I can't waitto see it. I was I was hoping
we'd be able to record thispodcast in the InsTRUCKta, but
you did say that the airconditioning is probably a bit
too noisy for us to do that. SoI'm still waiting to actually
see the InsTRUCKta. But youknow, in real life, I've only
seen photos and videos of it. Soyou're at community fairs, at
(19:32):
industry events, at school. Sotell me what you do.
So thank you toeveryone who's supporting or
Rob Sharpe (19:36):
So we take it out to like you say, schools and
maybe wants to supportInsTRUCKta and Transafe WA.
community events also industryevents as well. So whether it be
a Coca Cola Open Day or a Boralopen day that we've got planned
for this weekend coming up. Wetake that to schools and
community events. The schoolsare where we really want to tap
into because that's where ourour future road users are, our
(19:57):
16 our 17 year old Keys for Lifeprogrammes That's where we want
to really tap into that market.
Unfortunately, at the momentbeing a not for profit
organisation, we are industryfunded for different events we
go to so whether it be GreatSouthern Fuels who have recently
sponsored us to be at Daron andalso Newdegate Field Days. We
are looking for sponsorship thatgives us the funding that we can
(20:19):
then choose to go to the schoolsas well.
Yeah, that'scorrect. We've got all of our
safety partners and sponsors onour trailer. We've got them all
their stickers and logos onthere. So we also promote them
(20:40):
through our social mediaplatforms as well. But yeah,
just saying a reattribution,even again, without these safety
partners, without these guys,you know, we wouldn't have a
truck to tow it around, wewouldn't have the financial
support to go out to schools andother different places around
our regional and metropolitanareas. We wouldn't be able to be
(21:01):
out there on the road.
Sonia Nolan (21:02):
Yeah. And it's so important that you are out there
on the road. That's correct.
Tell me about Transafe WA then,obviously InsTRUCKta is just one
exciting, innovative project.
But what else does Transafe WAdo?
Rob Sharpe (21:14):
So Transafe WA was founded by the late Mr. Steve
Post in 2014. It's a not forprofit industry initiative with
the vision of aiding thedelivery of safer transport
industry workplaces, and byfostering and promoting safe
work practices. So we deliverevents and projects for both the
road transport industry and thegeneral public, focused on safer
(21:36):
heavy vehicle interactions andoperations. We also do road
safety forums as well. So we'vegot a Road Safety Forum, planned
for Esperance, later in theyear, and we do regional and
also metropolitan Road SafetyForum. So these Forums, we talk
about different industryinitiatives, different
technology that's available tomake the road safer, and also
(21:59):
other support agencies that helpalong the way, whether that be
injury matters or you know,Walga Roadwise and different
other organisations that weinvite along to inform our
participants about the forum's.
Sonia Nolan (22:12):
Are you part of that? It's held at the RAC arena
every year eleven and twelvekids.
Rob Sharpe (22:21):
We haven't been, but that's one of my challenges is
to touch base with those guysand get involved with the - I
think it's the Street Smart RAC.
Sonia Nolan (22:30):
It's so powerful, so powerful, both of my kids
went along to see that and it isabsolutely powerful. And like
you've said, you know, trying toget into the hearts and minds of
the, you know, 16 and 17 yearold, you know, young people who
are just about to get thatfreedom of their licence and
their plates and their cars and,you know, sort of heart attacks
(22:51):
for their parents who were just,you know, so anxious about, you
know, knowing the road is notalways a safe place, and yet
with inexperienced drivers, soyeah, so that's, it's amazing
what they do. Yeah.
Rob Sharpe (23:02):
And that's, that's one of our problems, as well.
All of our new drivers, they getthe keys and the first thing
they want to do is a road trip.
And most of the populardestinations that they want to
go to, are also shared by heavyhaulage. So that in itself
causes a problem, theyunderestimate the length of
these trucks, some of our trucksin the northern part of Western
(23:22):
Australia up to 60 metres long.
So it's a inexperienced driversnightmare to try and pass one of
those trucks and overtaking iswhere we're seeing a lot of our
problems as well.
Sonia Nolan (23:35):
Overtaking Of course, yeah. What about things
like texting while they'redriving? And, you know, and I'm
not just saying young peopleeither here, I'm just saying,
you know, are they some of theissues that you see regularly
that Transafe is really tryingto crack down on?
Rob Sharpe (23:50):
Yeah, look it's driver distraction, and that,
whether that be mobile phone useor distraction from your
passengers in your vehicle, orwhatever it might be - driver
distraction is a big problem.
And we see that on a regularbasis.
Sonia Nolan (24:05):
So what do you suggest? If you've got a small
child in the car who is verydistracting? For example, what
what do you suggest regardingdriver distraction, there's
obviously stuff you can minimiseand totally eliminate by you
know, don't use your phone andall the rest. But are there
things you suggest?
Rob Sharpe (24:24):
Definitely put your phone down, all that can wait.
There's nothing more importantthan getting there safely. And
with your, with your children inthe car as well, you know, there
are times when that distractionhas to be ignored. You just need
to drive safely. And if you needto pull over, you know, sort out
your distraction and get back onthe road.
Sonia Nolan (24:42):
We've talked about young drivers just getting their
licence and you want to be partof that case case for life sort
of experience. But I know you'vealso got a goal about the hazard
perception test.
Rob Sharpe (24:52):
Sonia, one of our goals is to actually get the
interactions with trucks intothe hazard perception test. And
that way we're teaching ourfuture road users on how to
interact safely with trucks.
Unfortunately, the hazardperception test does not teach
them anything around heavyvehicle interactions. So it's
one of our goals is to get itinto every licencing centre in
WA.
Sonia Nolan (25:12):
Yeah, that sounds great. Because at the moment,
what does the hazard perceptiontest cover? Gravel, or is it
night driving, what sort ofstuff is in there?
Rob Sharpe (25:20):
No, none of that. So it's basically all about passing
your test and the things youneed to know whether it be a
ball rolling across the road andhaving to brake at the right
time for that ball going acrossthe road. And there could be a
child following it. So it's,it's fairly basic in terms. It's
not not broad for our regionaland our road experience here in
(25:43):
WA.
Sonia Nolan (25:43):
Okay, well, good luck with that goal, Rob,
because I think that's a goodone. I think that makes a lot of
sense. I'm so excited that thisis a new, a new role for you in
the sense of having been atruckie and done the hard yards
and the many miles there andyour experience that you were
able to bring and also yourprofessional experience in
(26:04):
business and management. Youknow, you really are in my view,
the ideal person to be promotingTransafe safe road policies and
and you know, action.
Rob Sharpe (26:15):
From a truck drivers point of view, I can empathise
with what they go through on adaily basis. And I can actually,
with my background, I supposelook at the different
initiatives that we can develop,to make the truck drivers life
safer, and more enjoyable, and,and also protecting our
vulnerable road users.
Sonia Nolan (26:36):
You said earlier, Rob, that, you know, where we
want to travel is often in theregions and go to all these
lovely holiday spots that we'vegot around Western Australia.
But you know, are our regionalroads as good or as safe as our
city roads?
Rob Sharpe (26:52):
Sonia, the roads in the country areas are sometimes
more hazardous because we've gotwildlife and other different
road conditions that make itmore challenging. Rural road
crashes account for more than65% of the Australian road toll.
The rate of serious road relatedinjury in rural areas is nearly
(27:14):
twice as high as as what it isin the cities
Sonia Nolan (27:16):
Oh gosh, twice as high. That's a lot. And what
65%, it accounts for 65% of thewhole Australian road toll.
Rob Sharpe (27:23):
Yes.
Sonia Nolan (27:23):
That's - that's not just Western Australia, though,
the regions, that's regionsaround Australia?
Rob Sharpe (27:28):
That's correct, that's describing it more.
Sonia Nolan (27:29):
Wow.
Rob Sharpe (27:30):
So as mentioned, high referral roads are used by
91% of Australians at least oncea year.
Sonia Nolan (27:39):
And that allocates you know, it goes down to
holiday time, right? If you useit once that Yeah. Okay. So
you're driving in I'm sorry, I'mjust sort of thinking, my brains
ticking over here. So we're,obviously we're off on holiday.
We're all excited. But we'redriving in unfamiliar territory,
really, aren't we?
Rob Sharpe (27:54):
That's correct, they're new roads to us.
Sonia Nolan (27:55):
They are new roads.
It's not something that we doevery day. And we've got excited
kids in the car, or we've got,you know, maybe the family dogs
in there as well, and off yougo. And you're no doubt with a
whole bunch of other people whoare using the road for the first
time again, for a long time.
Rob Sharpe (28:10):
Yep, and you've got truck drivers on those roads
that are very familiar withthose roads. They know where
they're going and what they'redoing. It's the vulnerable road
users that have the challenge onthe road.
Sonia Nolan (28:21):
Yeah that's right, exactly. Right. Sorry, you were
gonna share some more statisticswith me.
Rob Sharpe (28:25):
So traffic injury is the biggest killer of Australian
Children under 15. And thesecond biggest killer of all
Australians aged between 15 and24. So these numbers are growing
every year, but are preventable.
If we all drive to or drive aswell as survive, I guess. The
state government's goal is toget to a zero row tall, which
(28:46):
is, you know, it's achievable.
But we've just got to all bemore considerate on the road.
Sonia Nolan (28:55):
So give us some tips. Rob, give us some tips
about how we can all be moreconsiderate on the road.
Rob Sharpe (29:01):
Okay, from a truck and light vehicle interactions
side of things. I supposedrivers should always wait for
the right opportunity to safelyovertake a truck, even if it
means being extra patient andusing overtaking lane when it
becomes available.
Sonia Nolan (29:15):
So that word "patient" I think is key, isn't
it?
Rob Sharpe (29:18):
It is yeah.
Sonia Nolan (29:18):
And we're not good at that. But that is just
absolutely key.
Rob Sharpe (29:22):
And don't be tempted to risk to get to your
destination a little bitearlier. Because if you try and
overtake at the wrong time, youmay not get there at all.
Sonia Nolan (29:29):
Yeah, that's right.
And you know, in reality, youmight get there five minutes
earlier, three minutes, youknow, it's really actually not,
it's negligible, like how muchearly you're gonna get there.
Rob Sharpe (29:39):
And you might be surprised as to what you
actually see on the side of theroad and the scenery that you
might enjoy a little bit betterif you're around not in so much
of a rush.
Sonia Nolan (29:47):
It's so true, isn't it? And there are so many
picturesque places that youknow, stop and enjoy and you
know, it's the journey, not thedestination, really, isn't it?
Rob Sharpe (29:56):
Yeah, enjoy the road trip. And we find as humans, I
suppose we want everyone infront to hurry up, and we want
everyone behind us to bepatient. And therein lies half
our problems on the road. So wejust need to be a bit more
courteous.
Sonia Nolan (30:10):
So true. It's funny, I remember, having this
conversation with my husband andhis brothers and their family of
big road trip, you know, theyalways went camping on holidays
growing up and always off youknow, sort of off they go, and
they'd leave early, and they'darrive and, and the dad was not
- my father, beautiful father -but he was not a stopper, as
(30:31):
they would call it. Say, not astopper, just get in there and
you just keep going till you getto your destination. And Paul
and his brothers, so my husbandand his brothers, were talking
about them all going now withtheir families on holidays. And
they turned to Paul and theysaid, "Oh, have you become a
stopper? Oh, my gosh, you stop?"and we go to the bakery and we
stop here and we you know, planthe trip according to our stops.
(30:55):
In fact, we plan our trips,according to the bakeries,
right? And, and everyone wasjust amazed the family was
amazed at that he was actually astopper that he was actually
going to stop and enjoy thewhole journey and they've all
become stoppers. All becomestoppers.
Rob Sharpe (31:10):
Yes. Sonia, I grew up in the passenger side of a
truck. My father was acontractor. And we didn't stop
very often. So when he did stop,it was definitely a treat for
the bladder and also for thebelly. So yeah, we didn't stop
very much as well. So I thinkwe're dad fit into the same,
same category.
Sonia Nolan (31:28):
I wonder if it's a generational thing then. I don't
know. I don't know. But I guesswe've still got the same issues,
haven't we?
Rob Sharpe (31:33):
We have. Yeah, for sure.
Sonia Nolan (31:35):
So become a stopper, stop and enjoy the
ride. Give your bladder a break,get a treat from a local bakery
and then really enjoy the roadtrip. Like you've said.
Rob Sharpe (31:44):
That's the plan.
Sonia Nolan (31:45):
Yeah. Great. Oh, Rob, thank you so much. It's
been such a pleasure to have youaround the Warm Table.
Rob Sharpe (31:49):
Thank you, Sonia.
It's been my pleasure to be hereon your Warm Table.
Sonia Nolan (31:53):
Fantastic. Thanks for joining me Sonia Nolan
around the Warm Table. Let'sgrow the community. Please
Kelli Reilly FOFF (31:58):
Hi ladies, it's Kelli here, creator and
follow My Warm Table podcast onsocials and like and share this
episode with your family andfriends. My Warm Table is
brought to you by Females Over45 Fitness. Keep listening now
for a health tip from FOFF headcoach Kelli Reilly.
head coach of Females Over 45Fitness. Testosterone levels. Do
(32:23):
you know your levels? Because aswe age, our testosterone levels
drop. Now testosterone helpsbuild muscle and burn calories.
So this hormone imbalance leadsto muscle loss and also lowers
your metabolism. So doingstrength training, we need to
help build muscle mass up sothat we can burn more calories.
(32:45):
Okay, so ladies, it's your timeto shine.
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